"The Mayor of Casterbridge" focuses on a simple theme with complex plot. The mingled theme of conscience and its reconciliation through deceit is presented. Characters' shameless past ceaselessly haunt them and render them dejected and guilty. The tragic actions involve a man who manages to establish prestige, wealth, and authority over Casterbridge that leads to the fall of the deeply flawed man.
"The Mayor of Casterbridge" focuses on a simple theme with complex plot. The mingled theme of conscience and its reconciliation through deceit is presented. Characters' shameless past ceaselessly haunt them and render them dejected and guilty. The tragic actions involve a man who manages to establish prestige, wealth, and authority over Casterbridge that leads to the fall of the deeply flawed man.
Hardy's The Mayor of Casterbridge is one of his best-known novels. It begins with a wife-selling, an event not as uncommon in British rural history as one might like to suppose. Atlantic Monthly called it a strong, vivid story and thought Hardy more virile and humourous than the mob of lesser novelists who write with alarming ease....
In the tradition of The Orchid Thief, a compelling narrative set within the strange and genteel world of rare-book collecting: the true story of an infamous book thief, his victims, and the man determined to catch him. Rare-book theft is even more widespread than fine-art theft. Most thieves, of course, steal for profit. John Charles Gilkey steals purely for the love of books. In an attempt to understand him better, journalist Allison Hoover Bartlett plunged herself into the world of book lust and discovered just how dangerous it can be. John Gilkey is an obsessed, unrepentant book thief who has stolen hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of rare books from book fairs, stores, and libraries around the country. Ken Sanders is the self-appointed "bibliodick" (book dealer with a penchant for detective work) driven to catch him. Bartlett befriended both outlandish characters and found herself caught in the middle of efforts to recover hidden treasure. With a mixture of suspense, insight, and humor, she has woven this entertaining cat-and-mouse chase into a narrative that not only reveals exactly how Gilkey pulled off his dirtiest crimes, where he stashed the loot, and how Sanders ultimately caught him but also explores the romance of books, the lure to collect them, and the temptation to steal them. Immersing the reader in a rich, wide world of literary obsession, Bartlett looks at the history of book passion, collection, and theft through the ages, to examine the craving that makes some people willing to stop at nothing to possess the books they love.
